Elections and Events 1990-1991

1990

Electoral reform in Mexico 1993: "Under the 1990 election code, the government established a new election agency (IFE) with a professional bureaucracy to manage federal elections [describes organization]....A controversial aspect of the election code was the governability clause, which allowed the party winning a plurality of at least 35 percent of the vote to automatically secure a 51 percent majority of the Chamber" (pages 13-14).

Vargas González 1993: "Resultados de las elecciones para diputados locales de enero de 1990 por distrito electoral" (page 262) (Same table is also in Gutiérrez Mejía 1994, page 135). Gives the number of votes for each party in elections for state deputies in Hidalgo.

February

Baja California Sur

Guillén Vicente 1990: In February 1990 PAN won 30% of the vote in the local elections in Baja California Sur (page 90). "Baja California Sur. Elecciones de diputados de mayoría relativa. 1990" (pages 159-160). Gives by district the number of votes and percent of vote for each party.

Rivera Velázquez 1994a: A special election is held to determine the municipal council in Uruapan, Michoacán on June 3, 1990 (page 182).

July

Nayarit

Pacheco Ladrón de Guevara 1993: "Nayarit. Resultados de las elecciones para presidentes municipales, 1990" (page 90). For the elections of July 1990 gives for each municipality the registered voters, total votes, number and percent of votes for eight parties, and the number and percent of null votes.

Pacheco Ladrón de Guevara 1994: For the local elections of 1990 in Nayarit gives the percent of the vote for PRI and PRD, percent who abstained, and percent of registered voters who voted for PRI (page 252).

November

Hidalgo

Keesing’s record of world events November 1990: "The results of the [November 11] state and local elections in...Hidalgo were not due for official release until Dec. 2, but preliminary results indicated that the PRI had won 81 out of the 84 municipalities" (page 37849).

Barrera Ambriz 1995: Municipal elections are held in Hidalgo in November of 1990. Describes protests against election fraud (page 83-84).

Keesing’s record of world events November 1990: "Official results were released in late November for the state and local elections held on Nov. 11 in México state, the country’s most populous region. According to these results the overwhelming majority of seats went to the...PRI, whose officials vehemently denied opposition charges of election fraud....The voter abstention rate was put at between 65 and 67 percent...The PRI won all 33 constituency seats in the México state legislature [gives number of seats allocated under proportional representation]. In the local elections the PRI won 116 municipalities out of a total of 121 contested, the PAN and the PRD won two municipalities each, and one went to an independent" (page 37849).

The 1994 Mexican election: a question of credibility 1994: "(I)n the State of Mexico in November, 1990..., a state that Cárdenas carried just two years earlier with over 50% of the vote to Salinas’ 30%, the PRI won with a clean sweep of all 34 legislative districts and 117 of 121 municipalities. Margins were as high as 20-to-1 in some cities" (page 13).

Gómez Tagle 1994: "In Yucatán elections for state deputies and 143 municipal presidents were held on 15 November 1990...PAN won in Mérida and probably twelve other important municipalities" (page 84). The PRI governor was forced to request a leave of absence by the PRI on February 14, 1991 and was replaced by Dulce María Sauri. "Protests against the fraudulent elections led to the most serious and bitter conflicts which had been seen in many years."

Huchim Koyoc 1995: For the local elections of 1990 gives the percent of the vote for PAN and PRI (page 396). PAN won Mérida and Tizimín: gives the votes for PAN and PRI in Mérida.

Poot Capetillo 1994: Describes the elections held in Yucatán on November 25, 1990 for 106 municipalities and state deputies. PAN wins Mérida by a vote of 63,584 to PRI’s 62,826 (page 204). Special elections are called for February 24, 1991 in contested elections (page 205).

December

González Madrid 1995: The Partido del Trabajo (PT) is founded on December 9, 1990 (page 221).

1991

February

Amezcua 1997: On February 14, 1991, the governor of Yucatán requests a leave of absence and is replaced by Dulce María Sauri Riancho as interim governor (pages 58-59).

Rodríguez and Ward 1996: "The 1991 race for governor [of Nuevo León] was described as competitive and transparent, with few irregularities reported...Rizzo [PRI] won 60 per cent of the vote, followed by the PAN’s Rogelio Sada with 31.5 per cent. The conduct of this election, to a large extent, helped to restore credibility in the electoral system of Nuevo León" (page 101).

August

Grayson 1992: On August 29, 1991 the governor of Guanajuato leaves office because of "PAN protests over alleged fraud that marred his election" (page 30).

Baer 1991: "Mexico’s August 18 [1991] midterm elections decided 32 Senate races, 500 seats in the House of Deputies (300 single member districts and 200 at-large seats), and gubernatorial races in the states of Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, Sonora, Queretaro, Colima and Campeche" (page 1). Gives results of the federal election (pages 2-5).

Bruhn 1995: "(I)n the August 1991 midterm congressional elections [in Michoacán], the PRD failed to win a single district seat in the national chamber of deputies....In the 52 municipios governed by the PRD, PRD candidates for the national legislature ‘won’ in only 27. Moreover, the vote for the PRD was lower in 25 of the 27 districts in the 1991 congressional election than it was in the 1989 municipal elections" (page 113).

Country profile. Mexico 1992-93: "Distribution of seats in chamber of deputies" (page 6). Shows the distribution of seats after congressional elections in August 1991.

Craig and Cornelius 1995: "(A) reinvigoration of presidential rule, an improving economy, and new government distributive programs paved the way for a remarkable, 12-percentage-point recovery by the PRI in the 1991 midterm congressional elections" (page 250).

Gómez Tagle 1992: "Diputados de mayoría relativa. Elecciones federales 1991" (pages 277-279). "Diputados de mayoría relativa. Datos de las elecciones federals de 1991 por entidad" (pages 280-282). For each state and the D.F. gives the number of registered voters; the total votes cast and percent they constitute of registered voters; the number of votes and percent of vote for each party; and the number of null votes and the percent they constitute of total votes.

Gómez Tagle 1993a: Various authors discuss the August 18, 1991 elections in a number of Mexican states.

Gómez Tagle 1994: Describes the mid-term elections of August 1991 (pages 87-90) and gives the number of votes won by PRI, PAN, and PRD.

Grayson 1992: "The PRI’s most dramatic surge occurred in the August 1991 congressional elections [in Michoacán] when it won a majority of the vote (53.9%) to sweep the 13 deputy races, as well as the single federal senate seat (51.8%) that was on the ballot. In staging this upset, the PRI enjoyed a 222.7 percent increase in its vote total (507,788) to 30.9 percent increase for the PRD (293,955) and 42.6 percent for the PAN (81,723). This vertiginous rise in the number of voters prompted charges that the voter rolls had been padded in so-called ‘cibernetic fraud" (page 12).

Grayson 1994: "The mid-1991 congressional elections, the first held under the 1990 reform, appeared cleaner than previous contests. Turnout, which reached only 50 percent in the 1988 presidential election, rose to 65.3 percent. The PRI regained strength in the Chamber of Deputies by capturing 320 of 500 seats" (page 8).

Keesing’s record of world events September 1991: "The Federal Electoral Institute released in early September the final results which corrected preliminary estimates of the Aug. 18 mid-term congressional elections but which confirmed that the...PRI had won a huge majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies...Opposition parties persisted with their accusations" (page 38431). "Chamber of deputies." Gives by party the seats won by direct vote, seats won by proportional representation, and total seats.

The 1994 Mexican election: a question of credibility 1994: "Cynicism about elections deepened after the mid-term federal legislative elections of August 1991 produced a PRI landslide just three years after the ruling party had nearly lost national elections for the presidency. At stake were the entire lower house of congress, one half of the Senate and governorships in eight states. In an incredible sweep, the PRI captured nearly 65% of the overall vote, 290 of 300 congressional seats, 31 of 32 Senate seats, and all 8 of the governorships. The congressional landslide was important because it secured a PRI majority in the Congress needed to pass constitutional reforms and legislation in preparation for NAFTA" (page 13).

Pacheco Ladrón de Guevara 1993: "Nayarit. Resultados de las elecciones de diputados federales, por municipio. 1991. (mayoría relativa)" (pages 86-87). Gives registered voters, total votes, number of votes and percent of vote in each municipality for ten parties, and the number and percent of null votes in each municipality.

Craig and Cornelius 1995: "In 1991 [PAN] gained control of the state government of Guanajuato, after widespread irregularities in the gubernatorial election provoked massive street demonstrations by PAN militants. President Salinas eventually forced the resignation of the elected PRIista governor and replaced him with an interim PANista governor" (page 270).

Gómez Tagle 1994: In Guanajuato in 1991 the gubernatorial election was closely observed by many organizations. Vicente Fox (PAN) "claimed victory on August 19 with data from 88 per cent of the polling stations. According to his statistics, PAN was winning with 131,506 votes against 127,415 votes for PRI. Muñoz Ledo [PRD and PPS] formally recognised Fox’s victory" (page 85). Two days later, "the State Electoral Commission announced the victory of Ramón Aguirre [PRI]...(T)he official results were: 39.9 per cent for PAN; 51.17 per cent for PRI and 7.8 per cent for the PRD-PPS coalition." Describes negotiations and appointment of "former PAN mayor of León, Medina Plascencia, as provisional governor of Guanajuato."

Keesing’s record of world events January 1992: "The PRI governor-elect of Guanajuato state was dismissed in August 1991" (page 38716).

The 1994 Mexican election: a question of credibility 1994: "In the gubernatorial election in Guanajuato in 1991 the PRI candidate, Ramón Aguirre, was declared the victor by the state congress, only to be prevented from taking office after by joint PAN-PRD protests against fraud. Under pressure from Mexico City, the local PRI in Guanajuato named an interim governor from the PAN" (page 14).

Rodríguez 1997: "Carlos Medina Plascencia was not even a candidate in the 1991 gubernatorial elections in [Guanajuato]; he came into the position only because the PRI candidate’s electoral conduct had been discredited and President Salinas wished to make a conciliatory gesture to the PAN. Even among ‘panistas’ his governorship was seen as lacking in legitimacy" (page 159).

Valencia García 1994: Describes the August 18 Guanajuato election in detail. Gives percent of official vote for each gubernatorial candidate and state deputies won by PRI (page 93).

Querétaro

Daville Landero 1994: Discusses and gives the results of the 1991 Querétaro election for governor, municipal councils, and state deputies (pages 18-19).

Bezdek 1995: In the San Luis Potosí gubernatorial election of August 18, 1991, "the official results showed that Zapata [PRI] had won by a margin of almost two to one, or 329,292 to 170,646. The appropriate channel for protesting electoral fraud is the electoral commission, but Nava refused to use it because, he argued, these were the same individuals who had perpetrated the fraud. Initially the regime refused to release the precinct results, but groups of national observers documented the election fraud" (page 45). Nava led a campaign to protest the fraud, which resulted in Salinas’s agreement "to the opposition’s demands that Zapata be forced to resign and that new elections be scheduled" (page 46).

Craig and Cornelius 1995: "Another elected PRI governor was toppled in the state of San Luis Potosí in 1991, again by direct presidential intervention in the face of sustained protests and a march on Mexico City by supporters of Salvador Nava, the opposition candidate backed by a coalition of the PAN and Nava’s own civic movement" (page 270).

Gómez Tagle 1993: Describes local elections of August 18, 1991 for governor and state deputies in San Luis Potosí (pages 171-174).

Gómez Tagle 1994: "The mid-term federal elections coincided in San Luis Potosí with local elections for governor and state deputies...[Salvador Nava Martínez] came out of retirement to run for governor as the joint candidate of PAN, PRD and PMD...The presence of several groups of electoral observers played an important part in detecting fraud" (page 86). Gives number of polling stations observed and percent with electoral irregularities, including those in rural and urban areas. Describes Nava’s response to the election fraud which gave the election to Fausto Zapata (PRI). "On 9 October, [Zapata] had a meeting with Salinas and shortly after declared his resignation."

Harris 1994: Describes the gubernatorial election of August 18, 1991 in San Luis Potosí and gives the official results (page 103).

Keesing’s record of world events October 1991: "Fausto Zapata, of the...PRI, whose election as governor of the state of San Luis Potosí in August had sparked off great controversy, resigned following a meeting on Oct. 9 with President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. He was replaced by another PRI member...until new elections could be held" (page 38524).

Keesing’s record of world events January 1992: "(T)he new PRI governor of San Luis Potosí state was forced aside in October 1991" (page 38716).

The 1994 Mexican election: a question of credibility 1994: "Elections in San Luis Potosí in 1991 followed a similar pattern [of PRI electoral intervention]. Again as a result of an electoral process considered fraudulent by opposition parties and independent observers, new elections were called. A PRI governor was elected, but forced to resign a month later. A report by independent observers documented 50 different types of electoral violations" (page 14).

Pansters 1996: Describes the 1991 gubernatorial election in San Luis Potosí (pages 256-263). The PAN candidate won the municipality of San Luis Potosí (page 263).

Grayson 1992: On October 9, 1991 the governor of San Luis Potosí leaves office because of "PAN protests over alleged fraud that marred his election" (page 30).

November

Keesing’s record of world events November 1991: "In his annual report to the nation on Nov. 1 setting out goals for the second three years of his six-year presidential term, President Carlos Salinas de Gortari proposed radical reforms of agriculture, the education system and the status of the church based on changes to the 1917 Constitution. It was envisaged that the changes would weaken the traditional power bases of the...PRI" (page 38569).

Nuevo León

Rodríguez and Ward 1996: The PAN candidate for mayor of Monterrey protested the municipal election results in November 1991 but the state electoral commission declared Benjamín Clariond (PRI) the victor with 58.4 percent of the vote (page 104).

Curzio Gutiérrez 1994: Describes the November 1991 election in Tabasco, discusses the large number of votes annulled in closely contested municipalities (page 222), and describes the "Éxodo por la Democracia" (page 223). "Tabasco. Votación en ayuntamientos" (page 227). Gives by local district the number of votes for each party, null votes, total votes, and registered voters.

Gómez Tagle 1994: "Among the different types of elections, those for municipal presidents are the most important ones for local people, as demonstrated in Tabasco in November 1991" (page 82). Describes fraud, including that within the PRI itself, and that found by observer groups from various organizations. "The state electoral authorities decided that too many votes had been registered for PRD candidates and they proceeded to nullify a large part of them. In the town of Cárdenas, the PRI won by 440 votes after 3,374 votes had been nullified." Describes reaction to the fraud, the "Exodus for Democracy," and negotiations with the federal government (pages 82-83). Neme Castillo resigns as governor of Tabasco on January 30, 1992.

Tlaxcala

Amezcua 1997: In the elections of November 1, 1991 in Tlaxcala, PRI won 41 municipal councils and PRD two out of 44 (page 218).

Bezdek 1995: In the December 1991 mayoral election in San Luis Potosí, "the regime recognized the panista candidate’s victory...The government also recognized about eight opposition mayors out of the fifty-six cities in the state" (page 47). Campos won with just over 50 percent of the vote (page 49).

Harris 1994: Describes in detail the municipal elections in San Luis Potosí in December 1991 (pages 109-119). Gives the number of communities in which each party ran slates (page 111), number of voting locations (page 112), registered votes, number who voted, the official results (page 113), and the results of special elections in contested municipalities (page 116).